"I’m not looking to change the world or anything like that. I’m just trying to do one small thing to memorialize how good the federal employees are," Kaufman told The Eye today for a longer print story appearing in tomorrow's Post.

Watch the video above from June 25, when Kaufman told the story of Denise Johnson, who is now the deputy director of CDC's International Emerging Infections Program in Kenya (IEIP).

Kaufman says he will not run in next year's special election to finish Biden's term. Instead, he will keep giving speeches about federal employees.

"I said when I took the job, that it’s a two-year deal," he said. Giving speeches to thank federal employees, is just "one of the things that I get to do."

How many whistleblowers, who suffered reprisal, were fired, and blacklisted will Senator Kaufman thank for trying to alert their agencies to violations of the law, gross waste, or endangerment of the public? How many will he thank who saw wrongdoing or waste but kept quiet about it in order to protect their jobs?